Star Wars: Anakin Si c19 (Patreon)

Jedi Master Mace Windu arrived at Mandalore’s Capital of Sundari. He was greeted by men dressed in blue armour and wielding staffs. These were the guards of the Duchess.

“I am here to see the Duchess of Mandalore.” The Master Jedi went straight to the point.

“She is expecting you.” The guards motioned for him to follow them.

Without wasting time, the force-sensitive boarded one of the shuttles with the guards as they flew away into the depths of the domed city.

Mace Windu can see destruction around him.

“The raiders entered the city?” He asked with a slightly surprised tone.

“They were allowed to enter by the rebels.” The guard explained to him in an annoyed tone. The guard was clearly not happy with what happened to his city.

“Oh?”

‘Trade Federation working with Mandalorian rebels? This makes no sense at all…’

Mace Windu knows well enough that Mandalorians are proud warriors. They will never work with greedy Neimoidians.

That means there is something which connects them both.

A third factor… some sort of a third faction…

‘Or as we thought… Trade Federation is not involved at all…

Neither of those attacks had Neimoidians on board, or they had any sort of previous failures in trading agreements.’

Before Mace even arrived to meet the Duchess, he had already concluded that this was not Trade Federation at all.

But he has no proof. That is the issue. Everything so far points at the Trade Federation and their Droids.

The Republic won’t accept excuses like droids going rogue.

But that is not the point. The point is that Mandalore is neutral, and that is that.

He is here to find out what is going on.

“Master Jedi, thank you for coming.” The blonde Duchess sounded slightly disappointed that it was not the Jedi she knew.

“My thanks for accepting our request. Might I see the sites of the attacks?” The Master Jedi went straight to the point.

“Of course, we will assist you as much as we can. I also wish to get to the bottom of this incident.” The Jedi Master was pleased that the planet's government would assist him. There are times when they don’t want them to poke around their cities, as sometimes Jedi find something they don’t want to be seen. But one thing is for sure: he can trust this honest ruler.

“My thanks.”

Soon enough, the Jedi Master was taken to the sites where the droids had infiltrated the city.

As he was told, now he saw in person that the droids entered through service shafts and some of the hangars.

The Jedi Master discovered that there was no resistance in these areas; the only signs of resistance were in deeper areas.

“As you said, Duchess, they were let in.” 

“Yes. My suspicion is Death Watch.” She sighed while proceeding to explain.

“They are the remnants of the old war-hungry government I exiled to Concordia.”

“I sense a ‘but’ here.” He stopped looking around as he looked at her.

“Yes. I haven’t heard anything about them for years.”

“Oh…”

‘So they infiltrated deep enough to blind the leader…’

Such a conclusion was the first thing he thought about when he heard that.

“Yes. I thought they killed each other, but it turns out they have consolidated their power enough to try attacking us.” The Duchess concluded with a concerned tone.

“Yes. Well, this could be a simple chance for them, and they could be not connected at all.”

Mace is still sceptical that Mandalorians would easily work with whoever is behind this.

“...Duchess, what do you know about… the Mandalore?” 

This rumour has spread through the HoloNet like wildfire.

“The leader of Mandalorians. I assume it's a rumour that one is appearing on Concordia?” Duchess Satine explained as she looked at the distance, trying to remember or, in this case, forget about someone.

“Yes. What do you know about that?”

“We are still trying to get any data from the hyper lanes that were used from and in the Mandalore system. All we know from witnesses in Concordia is that there was a large warship which appeared above the Moon world.

Whoever it was, it released transporters that flew down to the moon’s surface.

I can only assume they went to deal with Death Watch.”

The Jedi Master listened patiently to what she was saying.

‘So it's like that. They are here to collect warriors. The raid on Mandalore was a diversion and a test.’

“Your world is in danger, Duchess,” Mace concluded without beating around the bush.

“Are you telling me we will be under attack?” The woman looked slightly surprised.

“Yes, and not just any attack… it will be an invasion.” The Jedi Master concluded this as he could only see one outcome. IF they are true Mandalorians, just like Sith, they will want to collect their Homeland first.

“You are saying…”

“This attack was a check. The elusive Mandalore has collected Death Watch and, at the same time, checked the security of your world.”

Her eyes slightly widened when she heard that.

“But from where do they have the resources for such…invasion?” She asked with growing dread.

“I do not know. All I can think is that there is a bigger backer behind them.”

At that moment, Mace’s eyes widened!

‘The Sith! Of course! They want us to pay attention here! Instead, their North!’

“Like who?”

“I will tell you once I find a proof. Can I see some of the droids?” The Jedi Master looked slightly smug as he had figured out a Sith plot.

“Of course.”

The guards and the Duchess showed the pile of B1 droids and some Droidekas.

‘Just like Trade Federation, but they don’t have serial numbers… Do they want us to find these?’

‘As expected, the Sith want us to think that there is a third faction. They are trying too hard…’

“Did any data banks survive?” He asked the mechanics.

“There are some.” 

“Show me.”

~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~

Overlooking a building, a Mandalorian was watching what the Jedi and the Duchess were doing.

After seeing that everything was going according to the plan, he contacted his superior.

“Sir, the Jedi have found the droids.” 

“Good. Then, proceed with the next one. The boys are preparing more ‘evidence’ on Concordia.” One of the Bounty Hunters recruited by Anakin replied to the Mandalorian before ending the call.

With a nod, the Mandalorian ignited his jet pack and flew away.

This ‘evidence’ is ‘Sith’ connection to this ‘third faction’. 

Jedi won’t need much evidence before they are convinced that the Sith, who are known to be real, are behind it.

After all, they were in hiding for a thousand years. By this point, the Jedi will believe that the Sith have the resources to pull moves like these.

Not realising that it's the real Third Faction, not some Puppet State.

~~~

“I have found evidence that this is Sith work. They are weaponising Mandalorian rebels like they did before many times.” Mace said to the Jedi Council.

“They are trying to divert our attention from the North East. There are some moves from Banking Clans as well.

From what we understood, the Sith have a deep connection to them.” One of the Jedi Masters said to Mace.

This news shook him. Having connections to the Banking Clan is big news. It’s where all of the credits are. If the Sith close the banks…

Well, the Republic won’t be able to borrow credits!

“This is concerning. I will return after checking Concordia.” Mace Windu notified the Jedi Council before finishing the call.

Once the hologram was dismissed, the Jedi Master pondered what he had seen. He requested the Duchess to hand over the evidence he saw. The Jedi Council will investigate on their own.

However, what he saw was enough for Mace. He is certain that it is the Sith. No one else has the resources and connections to pull raids on the whole system like this. No pirates have the guts to invade Mandalore's pacifist government, whether they are pirates or not.

After pondering the issue, the Jedi Master instructed the pilots to fly to the moon world.

~~~

“You may test him out. Remember, don’t die.” Anakin instructed his Mandalorians. He wants them to get some experience in fighting Jedi.

“Yes, Mandalore, we won’t disappoint you.” The group of Mandalorians nodded at the instructions as they planted the evidence and prepared for the arrival of the Jedi.

Not long after, the Jedi Diplomatic vessel arrived and landed at the location where people reported sightings of ‘Mandalore’.

As the ramp lowered, a single man dressed in brown robes descended. He noticed the entrance to the mines in the distance.

He slowly walked towards the mines.

But that moment, yellow blaster fire rushed towards the Jedi Master.

Mace pulled out his lightsaber and casually deflected the fire.

“Quick! He arrived quicker than we predicted!” One of the Mandalorians said loudly as he threw some smoke screens.

A small explosion followed as it created a smoke cloud. 

After the cloud rose, a group of Mandalorians dressed in different coloured armour rushed towards the Jedi Master.

“Surrender, and you will get a just trial.” Mace Windu said with a confident tone.

“This is Mandalorian Space, Jedi!” The warriors rushed at him. Two opened fire while the other two pulled out knives and started to fight him.

Mace Windu frowned as he used his lightsaber to deflect the fire, but the moment they got closer, he engaged them in hand-to-hand combat. 

“Kill him! After that, we can finish with removal!”

‘Removal?’ 

The Jedi frowned as he decided to fight seriously and find what it was!

He used force to push one away and then turned around and used more force to grab two and smack them together before leaving—the only one who looked concerned about how a single Jedi had beaten his buddies like that.

“Tell me, what Master do you serve?” 

Before the Mandalorian could answer, the Jedi needed to dodge as flames rushed at him. One of the Mandalorians used his flamethrower.

“Let’s go!”

The pair of Mandalorians grabbed the knocked-out buddies and swiftly flew away with their jet packs.

Mace didn’t pursue them as he looked around before walking to the mines.

Inside the mine, he found remnants of Mandalorian gear, beskar ores and some other things. 

But as he went deeper, he found an office. Over there, he found some broken data pads. 

He frowned as he realised that they were destroying evidence. In the Jedi eyes, they tried to break any connections to Sith…

However, as he inspected the pads, he realised that one might have a broken screen, but the memory unit looked intact.

The Jedi Master collected the pad and proceeded to look for more. He then found some comms units. He collected those as well.

Once he was done with those, he left the mine and returned to his ship.

~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~

The four Mandalorians returned to Jango’s sprayfire. 

Two of them were knocked out.

“We made it.” 

One of them said to Jango. 

“Good, get it.” The blue armour-dressed Mandalorian motioned to get in.

Once inside the vessel, the engines ignited as the ship flew away.

The two conscious Mandalorians removed their helmets.

“Damn! I never imagined he was that good!”

“Yeah! He casually took all of us!”

“You were facing a Jedi Master. They are the best that they can offer. Most importantly, you did what you were supposed to do.” Jango said from his pilot seat.

“Yeah, we left the evidence behind.”

“Good.”

A few minutes later, as the Firespray flew away, the Jedi Diplomatic vessel flew out of orbit and then entered hyperspace.

No matter how they looked, the Jedi were moving in the direction Anakin wanted.

Not that the Sith realised that Anakin was putting all the blame on them. Normally, they didn’t care, but this time around, they wanted to be left alone!

Soon, the Jedi won’t leave them alone, as the situation is going the way they don’t want it to. The Republic is considering creating a Grand Army.